A Better Name for Staycation: Hometripping

The word staycation is annoying. It implies staid – stuck – going nowhere. When the truth is that staying home for a family vacation can be a blast.

Vacationing at home requires no packing, no stressful airline security lines, no missed or canceled flights and no costly bills at the end.

I blame the media (which means me too) for ruining the fun that should be inherent in the term staycation.

The word was coined to talk about a difficult time in the country’s financial history that led Americans to cut back on family travel. Using the term now reminds us of a time when we were squeezing our own budgets and cutting back on our family vacation plans. That is not a pleasant memory.

OUR LATEST VIDEOS

And even though the economy has not completely turned around, we believe it is in the process. And even though many of us are staying home on vacation, we believe it is a good thing. And good things need good titles. So I vote we stop calling our stay-at-home family vacations and staycations and start calling it hometripping.

Hometripping says it all. It feels like road tripping but implies you are staying close to home. You heard it here first!

Have you got a better idea? Share it in the comment section below and then join me on March 21 at 9 pm ET on Twitter when our #TMOM Twitter party

theme is staycations. By the end of the night, we will have taken the stigma out of staying home for a family vacation.